Vehicles are subject to a wide variety of tests that are mandated by government regulations and insurance certifications. Tests for energy absorption, durability and passenger protection are conducted on new vehicles. Intrusions into the passenger compartment are analyzed in several tests related to occupant protection in a collision.
Due to the numerous types of collisions, new tests are constantly being proposed to improve occupant safety, pedestrian safety and the safety of other vehicle occupants. A new vehicle test for testing a vehicle is a test entitled “2020 Euro NCAP test” that tests for intrusions and also tests for compatibility of a vehicle design with other vehicles that may be involved in a collision. One measure of compatibility in the NCAP test relates to the homogeneity of the deformation of a moving barrier that collides with a moving vehicle. Deeper deformation areas on the movable barrier are undesirable and result in unsatisfactory test results.
When modifying elements a vehicle design to meet the requirements of one test, care must be taken to avoid adversely affecting other test results. For example, changes made to improve homogeneity test results cannot be made in such a way as to compromise passenger protection as measured in other tests.
The above problems and other problems are addressed by this disclosure as summarized below.